By Charles Ogbu
I have said it before and I am repeating it now, Nigerian youths in general and South East youths in particular , have very low civic consciousness especially when it comes to holding their local leaders accountable.
An average Southeasterner may have every information regarding how much President Tinubu has borrowed since he came to power and how he has not used those borrowed funds to better the life of Nigerians, but ask that same young person the name of the member representing them at their state Assembly, they don’t know. Ask them how much allocation their governor has received so far or the IGR of their state, they don’t know. Neither do they know how these monies are being spent. You can be sure that many do not even know the name of their local government chairman/chairperson.
This our penchant for paying less attention to how our resources are used is exactly why the Enugu state government under Governor Peter Ndubuisi Mbah would shamelessly come out to tell the public that it awarded an 11 billion naira contract to a man with an unresolved allegation of fraud without following due process and still had the effon try to pay that contractor using a bank different from the bank with which the contractor presented a bank bond to the government for that same contract and there is no outrage.
A statement released by the Enugu state commissioner for information, Malachy Agbo yesterday, alleges Mr. Sijibomi Ogundele defrauded the state to the tune of N5.7bn meant for building some Smart Schools.
Part of the statement reads:
“It is also pertinent to state that it was discovered in the course of investigation that whereas he (Mr. Ogundele) presented a bond from Jaiz Bank, he used Sujimoto Luxury Construction Limited’s Zenith Bank account number 1312731196 to receive the said payment”
Anyone with even the smallest modicum of intelligence would know that the only way a government would knowingly pay a contractor using an account different from the one registered with the government which was used for the contract bank bond, is if the government simply wants to use such a contractor as a front for siphoning public funds.
We are no fools!!! Mr. Mbah should stop insulting the intelligence of ndi Enugu. Was this how he ran his Pinnacle Oil business?
This back and forth with Sujimoto started many months ago. Yet, the office of the honourable attorney general of the state has not prosecuted even a single individual among those who released this outrageous sum of money sourced from taxing the already impoverished Enugu people rated the second poorest in the entire South East after Ebonyi state. This is scandalous and I’m ashamed of this government.
This Smart School scandal further lends credence to the perception in some quarters that most of the big projects like the 260 Smart Schools,0ne per ward, 200 hectares of farm settlement per ward etc the governor is embarking on, are simply an avenue to siphon public funds, not to improve the wellbeing of Ndi Enugu. And to be clear, I am inclined to believe this. I mean, why would a responsible government that has not paid attention to the existing schools in the state, be more preoccupied with building 260 new smart schools costing a whopping 1.2billion naira each. And these huge sums are allocated to random individuals without due process, as the situation with Sujimoto has revealed. Who runs a state that way?
As I type, the existing Central School, Ndiuno Uwani, Akpugo located immediately after Sacred Heart Parish, Akpugo in Nkanu West Local Government area has no roof and the two building that have roofs have no windows (anyone can go and verify, that’s why I gave out the address) but that is exactly where Mr. Governor is spending 1.2 billion naira building a Smart School. What sort of business is that? If this smart school thing is about improving education in our state, why then are you not paying attention to the existing schools?
The governor promised during his campaigns to ensure there is running water in every Enugu household within 180 days. This is over two years now, yet the water challenge still persists. Instead of addressing the water problem like he promised, he went and floated an Airline for the state. Between water and an airline, which one do Enugu people need more?
He went to different markets and demolished people’s shops to build modern busstops. Some people are clapping without taking into consideration the number of poor people those demolishions destroyed their means of livelihoods. Tomorrow we cry of increasing crime rate without realizing that economic deprivation is one of the contributory factors.
Today in Enugu, residents and businesses are being taxed to death via one of the most wicked tax regime the state has ever experienced. People are getting poorer and it is nearly impossible for civil servants to afford the cost of house rent from their salary unless they have to steal because house rent has hit the rooftops. It is not that the house owners are greedy but because the state government has introduced different taxes against them which they now pass down to the tenants.
Students can no longer afford apartments in the state. Our landlady showed us a letter from the state government demanding she pay the sum of N665,000 for what they call 2025 rental income per residential building. Two days later, she announced increase in house rent. Every Keke rider pays N700 to the state government everyday, mini bus pay about N800 daily. Wheelbarrow pushers pay. Every shop owner pay N30,000 even if you are selling only sachet water. If you board a vehicle from Enugu, you pay tax to the state government. Even dead people in the mortuary pay tax to Governor Mbah.
If you add all these tax to the federal allocation which has tripled, that is excess money to improve the lot of Ndi Enugu but instead of embarking on projects that truly serve the need of the common people, these monies are being spent on high-sounding projects that have no impact on the lives of the people with contracts being awarded to people without adherence to due process.
Those close to Governor Mbah should tell him to Stop choking Ndi Enugu.
He needs to develop some conscience. A leader should have empathy. Government iis about improving the condition of the people. Anything contrary to this is pure fraud!
Those of you who erroneously think development is all about building roads and painting strategic locations mainly in the city centre should ask yourselves, if your parents in the rural area were to fall sick today, is there any health facility close to your village or community where they can access affordable health care? I once shared a picture here of health center somewhere in Akpugo using local lamp because there was no generator. Our rural areas are still barren of government presence. It is nearly impossible to see a public school in the state that is well equipped with a functional restrooms in the 21st century. At least I’m sure I haven’t seen any in my own local government and the local government authorities cannot do much because the Governors still control their money in defiance of the Supreme Court ruling on local government autonomy.
Why is Governor Mbah embarking on 200-hectare farm settlement in each ward in a state where many people still cannot go to their farm due to insecurity and the people who can, do not have access road to transport their products to the city? A responsible government should first secure our farms and do more roads in the rural areas before talking of taking 200-hectares sized land from each ward for whatever. Where will people get 200-hectares of land from in a regionl with the smallest landmass?
Mr. Governor, please learn to respect Enugu people who are your employers by engaging and interacting with them to know what they really want, not what you want. Run your tax regime with human face. Improve electricity generation in the state and let your policies be more business and human-friendly.
You have pushed more people into poverty in a state that is rated the second poorest in the region according to NBS. Remember, any government policy or project that does not have positive effect on the people is meaningless. Most importantly, stop listening to only your paid aides because most of them are too comfortable to understand the plight of the common man. And stop dishing out Enugu people to random people in the name of contract without due process.
Tomorrow Is here is a beautiful mantra but it should not entail destroying our today. Whatever you do, remember 2027 is around the corner.
The views expressed here are strictly personal and do not reflect the thoughts or opinion of AUTHORITY newspaper or its owners.
